Mom's Christmas quilt

 When my mom first started quilting, she made a quilt for each of my boys, and then felt guilty that she hadn't made anything for my sister. So, she began what would be the biggest quilt project of her life: a beautiful Christmas quilt for Linsey.  She gave it to Linsey for Christmas 2006, two years before she died.

Linsey told me recently that mom made the quilt with the help of her sister Sharon. She took a train from Houston to Sharon's house in Alpine, a trip that she was SO excited to make (14 hours! On a train! Leaving at some ungodly hour in the early morning!). Really, she was very excited about the train trip and talked about it for weeks beforehand and afterwards.

The quilt is really big, and very, very lovely.  When mom gave it to Linsey, she was very hopeful that Linsey would love it. Of course, she did.  Sharon told Linsey last year that mom was so nervous about Linsey liking it. Silly mom! It's beautiful!

Do you notice the red fabric with the ivy on the right side of the picture above? I found some of that left over in mom's stash.  Amie, look closely at the quilt that I made for you, and you'll see some of that fabric. 

Mom and Sharon must have used Sharon's long-arm quilting maching to do the actual quilting of it. It's beautiful. The stitches are tiny and perfect, and I love the variation in quilting designs. 

The quilt is really big. It would easily fit on a queen size bed, if Linsey ever wanted it there.  Instead, Linsey displays it year round on a quilt stand in her living room.

I also love the fabric mom chose for the back--it's a very soft flannel.  I know in the days, months, years after mom died, Linsey found lots of comfort in wrapping up in this quilt and just feeling mom's loving embrace. 

That's the beautiful thing about a quilt: every stitch...every single one was made with love, prayers, and warm thoughts for the reciepient. This quilt will forever be a tangible reminder of Mom's love for Linsey. 

I've got the blues

The first quilt that I started is finally finished ...a year later!

When I started this quilt last May, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I had a book. I had the internet. I had my aunt Sharon on the phone, but still...quilting is one of those skills that really needs face-to-face instruction.  I made the quilt top with relative ease, but when it came time to actually quilt it, I was stuck. 

I went to Hancock fabric and talked to a girl who clearly didn't know what she was doing because she sold me really puffy batting, the kind used for comforters. I pinned the layers together and "stitched the ditch." Once I had the quilt together, I realized I really didn't like how puffy it was, but I forged ahead with the binding, and then I screwed that up, too.  

So, I put the quilt aside. I went to a quilting class and then I made one for Tiffany and one for Amie.  

Finally, I went back to this one. 

I ripped the layers all apart, and started over with new thinner batting, hand basting, and free-motion quilting.  I really like how it turned out.  Blue is my favorite color, and I like the combo of all of the blue fabrics here (they are all fat quarters from JoAnns or Hancock). I really like the backing fabric (from JoAnns).  

I think this quilt will get lots of love, and I plan to keep it in the blanket bucket on the mantle. 

And now I'm ready to dive into the stack of fabric for quilt number 4! 

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Mousse Cheesecake. Amen.

My weird friend Amie doesn't like cake. Not cupcakes, not tres leche cake, not any kind of cake. 

She does, however, really like cheesecake, and that's good because so do I. And, I like making cheesecake, so this is what I made her for her birthday:

It's a chocolate and peanut butter mousse cheesecake out of the May 2012 issue of Taste of Home. It was super-rich and super good, and not at all healthy. What a perfect way to usher in Amie's 37th year on earth! 

Christmas Circle quilt complete!

I've finally finished with Amie's Christmas present...just in time for her birthday! Previous posts chronicling the process can be found here and here and here.  Yay!  I had a hard time figuring out how to actually quilt the layers together. I knew I needed to do something spiral-like within each circle, and it wasn't until I took a totally unrelated quilting class a few weeks ago that I figured out I could quilt a spiral within the circle, move and take a stitch outside the circle, the quilt the next spiral in a circle. Then, I went back and clipped and buried all the threads at the beginning and end of each spiral in each circle. Clear as mud?  It took awhile, but I think it was worth it. 

I washed and dried the quilt last night, and the raw edges frayed quite a bit. That's what they are supposed to do, but it still surprised me a little.  I took some time going through each circle cutting excess fray lengths and checking to make sure the threads were all still buried (a few had come loose, and I re-tied and reburied those). 

All in all, I'm pleased. It took much longer than I expected, but I learned quite a bit in the process.  Back in December, I cut enough fabric for two quilts--this one and a matching one for me to keep. I think it'll be awhile before I get around to making mine! In the meantime, I can just visit Amie at Christmas if I need to see it! 

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Cutie-pie cupcakes

For the boys' birthday this year, I hired someone to make the dozens and dozens of cupcakes need and that someone was 7th grader Mikala.  

She's the sister of an FCCLA member, Kara, and the daughter of my friend Stormy's colleague. I'd had her cupcakes once before when she gave some to Stormy to share at gathering. 

I gave her full-rein when it came to creativity--I simply told her I wanted something to go with a pool party, and I needed about 60 cupcakes. 

When I arrived to pick them up, I was delighted to see 4 boxes like this: 

Vanilla, chocolate, beach umbrellas, sea turtles, flip flops, ocean waves...Too cute!!

I think the beach ball under the umbrella were my favorite.  The kids really liked these and the sea turtles.  And the flip flops.  And the waves. And really, well, all of it was perfect. They were gone in a flash! All 64 of them, just gobbled up in seconds! 

Happy birthday to two cute boys and a BIG thanks to Mikala for the cupcakes!

Cate's New Dress: Prototype Complete

Last June, I made my friend Courtney a bag for her birthday and a patchwork pillowcase dress for her daughter Cate with the leftover fabric. Here's the post.The dress was giant-sized for Cate, and I just never got around to adjusting it smaller.

Then, when Courtney recently asked me to make a dress for Cate, she mentioned that patchwork dress, so I dug it out to finally complete it.  When I made the patchwork dress, I didn't really know what I was doing, and I knew the armholes looked messy, but I wasn't sure how to fix them. The answer is so completely obvious: bias tape.  Thankfully, when I made Cate's new dress, the directions I chose included using bias tape on the armholes, and this was exactly the solution I needed for the patchwork dress.  I also made the dress smaller by taking it down from the top and resewing the casing.

Here's the finished dress!

Cate's new dress, version 1.2

After our initial fitting, I determined that the armholes on Cate's dress were too big. It took a bit of thinking, but I ultimately cut the armholes off, added a dart, then sewed new bias tape and reclosed the casing at the top. It was a pain, but it finished nicely and hopefully it will fit her much better. 

I also appliqued a C on the front, sewed blue zig-zag stitching around the C, and then added a sweet little butterfly button for a finishing touch. I love it!